Friday, December 5, 2014

Chickenhawk

Chickenhawk (also chicken hawk and chicken-hawk) is a political epithet used in the United States as ad hominem argument to criticize somebody who strongly supports a war or other military action (i.e., a War Hawk), yet who actively avoided military service when of age.

The term is meant to indicate that the person in question is cowardly or hypocritical for personally avoiding combat in the past while advocating that others go to war in the present. Generally, the implication is that "chickenhawks" lack the experience, judgment, or moral standing to make decisions about going to war. The term is not applied to those who avoided military service without subsequently adopting a hawkish political outlook.